Considering how things are changing
inside the Church this is a valid question to ask. Many people do not understand
their human nature is sinful and that one must have a spiritual birth to be
forgiven and know God, their creator.

Many believe they are a Christian
simply because of the fact that they go to Church or love Jesus. Paul asked the
Corinthian church “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test
yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-- unless
indeed you are disqualified.” (2 Cor. 13:5).

“Now if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he is not His” Rom. 8:9).

Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit comes
and lives inside those who have received Him by the gospel. So it all points to
where we understand the gospel as our means to bring us into a relationship with
God. Without the understanding of the gospel you have none!

First- mankind is born in sin, unless
we admit this fact we cannot come to an understanding of why Christ was
crucified. Since all physically die it proves we are sinful for the Bible says
the wages of sin is death. To deny this means one is not open to have the Lord
work on their heart to bring them to repentance.

The Spirit of God was sent by
Jesus into the world -He said, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart,
I will send Him to you. “And when He has come, He will convict the world of
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:” of sin, because they do not
believe in Me; “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no
more; “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:7-11).
The main ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal that man is a sinner and that
Jesus can save them from their sin and to reject this makes judgment is
inevitable.

The Cross is God’s way to bring man to
Himself. Its not that we were ever obedient or searching for God, but that He
came to us, He had to reveal Himself to us. He sent His Son from heaven to
earth, lived a perfect life under the law that God gave man to live by and then
fulfilled the complete requirements of the law by living a perfect life. He was
then qualified to cleanse us from our sins by crucifixion- as the lamb of God to
take away the sin of the world.

The Gospel - Christ crucified is the
message preached as the only way, not a way, a choice among many. The gospel
message eradicates any way of us becoming acceptable to God on our own merits.
No matter how good you are your not good enough, this puts us all on equal
grounds. You cannot emulate Jesus as a good teacher and follow Him on your own.
You must come to Him the way He has said through His sacrifice on the
cross.

Jesus’ message of the cross was
essential and supreme over all of His other teachings. He spoke often
about his mission - his cross. A Jesus presented without the cross is often
presented by liberals so that sinners won’t be offended. The world can easily
identify with Jesus as a teacher or the Church as a religion but not with the
cross and its requirements about sin. The cross reminds us of our fallen nature
and the only solution God gave mankind to cleanse it. Without the cross as the
means for salvation, a Church becomes just another religion with teachings about
a man named Jesus.

Some believe because they ask Jesus in
their heart they are now a Christian, this may not necessarily be so. It will
not help if they do not know who this Jesus is and why he must rule their life.
If they have had no confrontation of the cross and their sin, then how have they
heard the gospel to repent? The Bible says it is the power in the gospel for
salvation. When Jesus taught on the seed and the four soils in Mt.13 and Mark 4
he explained that only the soil with understanding can grow and bring forth
fruit. The other three soils were overcome along the way-- they did not make it
to produce any fruit. The soil is mans heart the seed was the word that brought
the growth.

Jesus said to one of the most well
known religious leaders of his day, “you must be born again-spiritually to enter
the kingdom of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, John 4:24 “God
is Spirit. Only God can regenerate mans fallen spirit. This is our inner nature
by which we can understand, comprehend the spiritual things of God. John
6:63: ”It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The
words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

We have a renewed spirit because God’s
Spirit gives us life and lives within us. The Bible teaches that a man is
spiritually born of (Gr. EK - out of) God. This description occurs four
times in John’s epistle alone, 1 Jn. 3:9, 4:7, 5:1,4. In all the instances where
the source of the new birth is mentioned, the language is EK Him,
EK God, or EK Spirit. John 1:12-13, we receive Christ by believing
in His name, “not born by the will of man... but of God.” His name means
salvation- salvation meaning our being rescued from the consequences of our
sins.

Jesus said John 8:43 “Why do you not
understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” Without
understanding one cannot follow, nor can they bear fruit. It is crucial to have
understanding for the seed (the word) to germinate in good
ground.

Peter wrote ”having been born
again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which
lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23).

You cannot repent and confess your
sins without the atonement according to God. In other words, you cannot come to
God without the Son of God’s work on the cross. I John 2:23: “Whoever denies the
Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father
also.” I John 5:11-12:”And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have life.” This is obviously denied by the world’s
religions and the cults. You can’t have genuine faith without repentance because
you believe in the crucified savior. True belief will be followed by an action;
your life must willfully turn after you understand why He went to the
cross.

The Bible states it is the “preaching
of the cross” that contains “the power of God” that results in salvation.
There is not other way. It is by this word of faith we are saved… Paul writes in
Romans 10:8-9 “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in
your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess
with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved.” In other words when we hear the gospel and it
has penetrated our spirit we are able to have faith to believe and speak in
agreement with it- that we are sinful and Christ died for our sins (1
Cor.15:1-4)

Jesus said I am the door- If you do
not enter by the door Jesus said you are a thief and he relates this to Satan
being the thief. Jn.10:1,8 My sheep hear MY voice, Jesus is the instructor we
are to look to His Word. Men’s words, philosophies, teachers of the world will
not nourish you. Only those who present Christ’s words give you understanding to
grow in your spiritual walk to maturity. Our self must decrease for Jesus to
increase. Many are in churches that are teaching human potential, positive
thinking wrapped up in biblical principles for living. This has nothing to do
with the gospel and is filled with unprofitable words for our spiritual growth.
If we are increasing in our ways then Christ is eclipsed by self. We are choking
out his word.

Too many come away from church saying:
“I feel good about myself or I have a positive outlook. This is not what God’s
word does. God’s word often searches the heart to expose the unknown sin hidden
inside us so we can deal with it. God’s intent is to change us, not give us a
boost in self- confidence. God’s word gives us hope by His promises in Him who
can do far beyond what we think or ask for. This completely different than
living by a positive attitude for good things to happen.

You are either a missionary or a
mission field. You will be able to tell by your being influenced by other
spiritual practices or your influence your friends in
Christ.

Since the Lord is the one that made
you, He is the only one who can satisfy you. If you drink of Jesus you won’t
look to Buddha, Baha’u’llah, Mohammed or add anyone else’s teachings for Christ
will be sufficient in all things.

Matt 5:6: “Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be
filled.”

John 4:14: “but whoever drinks of the
water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life.”

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I
am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes
in Me shall never thirst.”

What great promises are given to us by
the overseer of our soul.

Are you learning about the Scripture
in your church? To know the word is to know Christ who is the Word made flesh.
Psalm 119:160: “The entirety of Your word is truth, v.162: “I rejoice at Your
word as one who finds great treasure.” Are they preaching from the word in
context (hopefully book by book) so that you get familiar with the word and gain
understanding to grow in Christ. John 17:14: “I have given them Your word; and
the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of
the world.” v:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is
truth.”

1 Tim 4:6: “If you instruct the
brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished
in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully
followed” One cannot say they believe in Christ or they follow Christ without
adhering to the words of the Scripture where His words are found. It’s not
Christ plus but Christ alone. He is sufficient “For in Him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the
head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9-10). Jesus Christ cannot be mixed
with any other teaching. There is one God and one way to God through God’s ONLY
Son- The gospel is simple and plain for all to come to Him.